Amid all the recent scandals regarding Nova, it may be forgotten
what Nova really offers those seeking the Nova experience:
1. No paid public holidays (about 14).
a. No extra pay for working public holidays.
b. No days of in lieu of working public holidays.
2. No paid sick days.
3. Fines for being late.
4. Cramped working conditions in many branches.
5. Very Poor training.
6. Unreasonable overcharging for accommodation.
7. Having to pay for background checks, agency fees for a nova job.
8. Cheap, old folding chairs to sit on.
9. A gruelling 8 lesson a day schedule in many cases.
10. Substandard textbooks. No alternative material allowed.
11. A company that is under heavy scrutiny by the government for
business misconduct.
12. A company which has been taken to court numerous times by
instructors and students. Guilty as charged in nearly all cases.
13. No salary payments between lessons, to save on insurance
payments.
14. Environmentally unfriendly, cramped cubicles to teach in.
15. No bonuses. Not even a New Year Card to say thanks.
16. Violation of working holiday agreements.
17. Many schools in basements with no windows.
18. No fire or safety drills.
19. Tatty, old buildings.
20. Smelly, stained carpets in many branches.
21. Complecated salary payments:
a) Base salary.
b) Service allowance.
c) Regional allowance.
d) Regularity allowance.
e) Shift allowance.
f) Qualification allowance.
g) Position allowance.
h) Probationary period payment.
22. Branch staff convicted of maliciously lying to customers.
23. The employee SHALL participate in any controlled substance
testing PROGRAM required by the Employer.
24. JMA, Japan Medical Assistance, is a Nova based company which
does not directly provide health care.
25. No union recognition.
26. Academically unqualified supervisors.
27. 500 yen year end bonus, if you are lucky.
28. Out of control, snotty nosed kids' classes.
29. Students using Nova as an illness recovery centre. A common
reason for coming to Nova is: My doctor said it would be good for
me.
30. Inane warnings to instructors on the so-called Lesson
Management Plans (yes, that is what they call the teacher
instruction pages for each lesson). Warnings go something like this:
When you are asking the students personal questions, be sensitive
and remember you are living in Japan. Although the students are
learning a foreign language and its culture, we must try not to be
offensive. Remember Nova is a business. Try hard not to scare the
students. I exaggerate of course. But you get the idea.
Julia's advice to those thinking of working at Nova:
Before signing the Nova contract, if they offer you one, I would
consider a few things if I were you:
a. Nova is not offering the good raises that they did a few years
back. When I was new here, 10,000 and 15,000 yen a month raises
(upon signing a new contract) were quite common. Now they have gone
the way of the dinosaur.
b. Nova just replaced their long-used textbook with one that is, to
put it mildly, questionable in development and in content. It's
basically just a glorified-looking, glossy phrasebook. The old one
probably needed replacing (simply because it was over 20 yrs old)
but not with the rag they have us using now.
c. Nova has hundreds of branches all over the country. While there
are more than a few good branches to work in (including the one
where I have been the whole time I've been here), many others are
the PITS. It's really a roll of the dice where you end up. They'll
tell you that you can transfer to another branch/city if you want,
which is true on the surface but many desirable areas of the country
have long waiting lists.
d. You'll be promised a fixed schedule and location... then it will
be fiddled with so many times after you get here that it won't seem
too fixed anymore. Most of the time I and the other teachers I work
with just roll with it; but it can be annoying if it happens often
enough.
And it used to be that if you were flexible about this type of thing
in the past, it could help you get a good raise when new-contract
time came up. But as mentioned in Part A upstairs, the nice raises
are a thing of the past.
e. We used to get GDHs (general duty hours) to plan Special Voices,
do administrative tasks, and so on. But like nice raises, GDHs have
now become extinct. Titled instructors (I am one) used to get a set
number of them to perform the many administrative duties that are
required of us, but now we're expected to squeeze them in whenever
we get a "free" (no lesson booked in a given time slot) or empty
Voice room. Okay if your branch gets its share of frees and empty
Voices, but most branches don't.
In other words, the company is squeezing more work out of us for
less time and less money (in the form of smaller and/or nonexistent
raises...)
f. Despite a slew of legal challenges, and a ruling from the Osaka
bar association (not legally binding, but usually very influential),
Nova continues to employ a non-socialization policy between teachers
and students.
Despite the bar association's ruling that the policy is
discriminatory (it only applies to the foreign teachers, not the
Japanese staff) and an invasion of privacy, Nova still sticks us
with it. They still try to tell us with whom we can or can't spend
time in our private, off-the-clock time.
g. In conclusion, I've seen all little changes happen during
my "illustrious Nova career" and the changes are not for the
better.
So ... if you're not planning on staying here long ... if you're
just going to work for Nova a short time and then take your services
(and visa) somewhere else ... give it a shot.
You may even end up in a good branch (maybe even mine!) and have a
pretty pleasant experience, and end up staying with Nova a while ...
and wondering what all the complaining is all about. If so,
consider yourself blessed.
OR... you may end up in a s--thouse of a branch with a s--thead of
an AT and end up hating it. (I'm an AT, but trust me, I'm not one
of the s--thead ones!)
If you can get in with JET or with one of the other eikaiwas (like
Geos or ECC), you may, on average, be better off.
Best of luck to you, whatever you decide.
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This was written by Bob Sixpence and was originally posted on Nova Teachers United, an online Yahoo group. It is being reprinted here courtesy of the author.
Original post:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/novateachersunited/message/34239
